Tickling Giants was awesome! I really loved every minute of it. One of the reasons I liked it most was how informative it was about what had gone on and what is currently going on in Egypt. This information was presented through an extraordinary character who struggled to cope with the repercussions of expressing his views, and a lot of the country’s views, in a society where political jokes will put you in prison. It’s so sad to know that the people in that country don’t have a voice. There was a lot of moments where Bassem is visibly anxious before walking out of stage to do his regular routine of laughing and making jokes. It was hard to watch the story unfold through his character because of what he and his family and staff had to go through. It makes me think about how despite some of our country’s downfalls, at least people can joke about politics without being silenced to the point of jail time. In a way I feel elated that the staff made the show happen. They wrote jokes and were able to express their voices through Bassem’s show. Working in a likeminded environment like that is the kind of thing that builds a strong community of people and that strength can ultimately lead to change. Having Bassem as their leader of sorts must have been truly inspiring, especially when he gave those short speeches before a show to remind them that what they are doing means something and to be confident in that. This brought Bassem’s humanity to life. How can you not fall in love with his character? He is such a genuine person. It got me thinking about humanity. How did Bassem get to be such a thoughtful person when he grew up in a such a suppressive place? To me, this represents hope for the Egyptian people and for societies everywhere.

I think Kenzie, Luke and I are feeling pretty good about our documentary. We will be able to successfully isolate our initial vision of opioids addiction’s effects on families. We already have one interview under our belt. The interview was with an ER nurse whose husband suffers from the disease of addiction. We have two more interviews lined up for the end of this week along with an opportunity to shoot some much needed broll. The broll will be in a church where a parent support group meets to get informed and discuss their concerns with their loved one suffering from addiction. We will be interviewing the group leader as well as a husband and wife who attend the meetings. This leaves us sufficient time to edit. It is definitely crunch time, but we will get it done.

1. Overdose deaths with opioids involved: 33,091 in 2015 and 64,000 in 2016
2. 1 in 48 people newly prescribed an opioid will become a long time user
3. Since 2010, heroin overdose death rates have more than quadrupled
4. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids other than methadone (i.e. fentanyl) killed 9,500 people in 2015, a 72% increase since 2014, and over 20,100 in 2016.
5. In Pennsylvania, opioid overdoses are more common than fatal vehicle crashes.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1ZhszJ-tDmM4sFIvstfZsEXSETArvm1e6

With next to no time to shoot b-roll because I had a one hour window with her before she left to screen her film in Pittsburgh, I decided as b-roll I would use archival footage of Hebron, the city where her documentary takes place. Also, the export of this cut removed the sound from the beginning (I think I had one of the audio layers on mute). Let me know your thoughts otherwise, thanks.

I interviewed Tamar Kay, a documentarian from Israel and a graduate from the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem. In finding my subject, I knew I wanted to interview someone I didn’t know who would be able to talk about something the audience (me and you) could engage with.

I found out on Monday that Tamar Kay would be screening her film The Mute’s House at Muhlenberg the following night, so I knew I had to ask her if she would sit for an interview. I asked, she said yes, we exchanged numbers, and the next day she texted me in the morning with a time that would work for her. I left work early, set up and interviewed. I knew I wanted to talk to her about her film, but my intentions were to ask her about being a new film student in search of any advice that might help alleviate some of the anxieties associated with creating a film for the first time (for a lot of us). Especially because some of us (me) have never done anything like this ever.

She was wonderful, polite, helpful, and insightful. I was extremely nervous to interview her. I didn’t sleep at all the night before. All I could think about was how I’ve never set up a tripod, filmed, or interviewed anyone in my life. The technical issues and preparation of questions were anxiety provoking, not to mention how I just decided to jump right into it without even thinking about how I didn’t know what I was doing on almost every level. Luckily I had help setting up and I prepared many questions, knowing well I wouldn’t get through them all. Needless to say the interview went well. There were some issues with slating, but nothing unresolvable. The worst part is playing it back and hearing myself!

I set up in a professor’s office on campus. Locations were limited because both of us were on a tight schedule (she left for Pittsburgh right after our interview and I went back to work).

How can you not love the literary voice of Michael Rabiger? “Filmmaking is a beautiful and involving art form, one that synthesizes practically every other art form invented, and that makes learning a lifelong adventure. Most significantly, making documentary means you are learning about yourself, and becoming a fuller human being”. What a seductive claim. How are more people not chomping at the bit the instant they read this? This book is about being human and that is the best kind of book to read. The best part is how it reads like a documentary is watched: observe, feel, understand, challenge, learn, and probably more verbs I am not mentioning here.

But it’s true, what he says about us humans, about what we are made of, about what drives us, not our physical matter. We all have some pain, some excitement, some conflict in our lives. We are bound to see that in others. Don’t we expect it? This is the passion that ignites the need to investigate a story. He says strive not to put anything on the screen unless it reveals something. What story will best reveal what drives me, and what will engage others in that revelation?

We seek to preserve, to attach to, to remember, to ask. We are seekers, he says, by nature. Why are we living in this time and place, or at all? Film seems to bring some sort of insight into this question. It seems so perverse to ask. People like to make light of existential phenomena. But when faced with it on a screen, it is nearly impossible to look away. I have something to say. I might not know what it is yet, but I think I have to believe that it’s there.

Whatever conflicts I face throughout my life, I know I am not alone. There is another human on this planet who will want to know and understand it from my point of view. The “social art” is one of the present, but for the future. History is a promise kept and documentary film is the secret handshake declaring a “forever-ness”.

When watching a documentary, the general conception is that people are not watching a fictional movie. Rather the purpose is to inform, not to fantasize, a different kind of entertainment. People are fascinated by documentary’s apparent inherent ability to capture reality. And while it can do this to some extent, ultimately documentary is to tell a story, to relay a perspective of information.

As we know, sometimes it is difficult to find the words that will best articulate what it was like to be ‘there’. No matter how wonderful and poetic a description of events, there is some missing element, something that prevents the audience from ever fully grasping the reality of the situation, the truth as it unfolds before their eyes. Film works the same way. To make up for this, it seems documentarians try to do their best to shy away from the old adage “you had to be there”.

Nevertheless a film is something to be entertained by. If anyone is like me and finds real life more interesting than things which are made up, documentary seems the perfect form of entertainment. What Linda Williams has to say about that, in terms of her analyzation of The Thin Blue Line, might be that regardless if the sequence of events are true to form, if the story is accurately portrayed, and if the people are real and not actors, it is just that, a portrayal. Because the viewer is not one who was witness to the actual moments being discussed in a documentary, they need a story they can follow. The audience wants to trust the filmmakers on getting it right. They want to not be lied to, and so what they are exposed to they will most likely believe and pass on. Therefore, it is the filmmakers’ job to be apart of the social and cultural interpretation of the issue which will tell us something about what the past way really like. The “reverberations between events” harnesses the power of truth. Sounds like what Professor John Caputo argues in his book Truth.

Watching The F-word web series was seriously helpful in getting to thinking about what you can do with a 10 minute documentary. It is a story about a specific couple with a specific goal from which they are starting at a certain socio-cultural position. It is engaging because of this and because the motivation and passion to love a child are so palpable. The obstacle here though seems to emphasize the difficulty in the waiting to foster. Wanting a child so badly and knowing there are so many children that need a loving home makes it hard to wait.

I really liked the explanations used to identify certain terms like concurrent planning, home study, disclosure meeting, etc. This was helpful to include because otherwise there would be confusion on my part for the duration of the video. Of course I can google what I don’t know, but the time it takes to do that takes away from my current investment in the episode. Actually, it’s as if I am tranced. I am too engaged to find out what is going to happen next that I don’t even think about pausing to do a google search. Instead, I am hopeful that the film will anticipate my illiteracy in fostering and will address these questions for me. If these confusions were not addressed, I know I would have kept watching until the end and if I was still confused, I’d google it then. How amazing though, the power a film has to be so engaging that even with the ability now to pause, we almost subconsciously choose not to because of how visually and emotionally invested we are. The expectation of a film for our confusions to be resolved is incredible. Not to mention how endearing this couple is for their persistence in wanting to love something so badly. Admirable, to say the VERY least.

I couldn’t help but compare some of what Brooke Gladstone said to Descartes’ process of doubting. You can have beliefs and values, you are who you are, but know them better, she said. This was just what Descartes tried to do by subjecting everything he thought he knew to doubt. What he had a hard time doing was subjecting his deeply engrained beliefs, beliefs he thought he could be certain of, beliefs of which he thought had no business being doubted, to the process of coming to an indubitable truth.

Isn’t that always the hard part, the part that keeps people so divided? People really do hold such things so dear to their hearts and identities. To make room for the potential falsehood of these beliefs is a difficult thing to bare to mind, especially if people are ignorant of their uncertainty. Brooke said know your beliefs. Getting to know why you think what you think is arguably more important than thinking it. This does relate to news consumption in a way that allows people the freedom to experience their point of view. The beauty of this is how widely available differing viewpoints actually are. I think this is what Brooke wants us to do, to devote time to understanding others’ beliefs and values, if only to better understand our own. This means digging deeper, finding the time, being open minded, accepting our own ignorances, accepting other people’s strengths, all to strengthen or emerge from the beliefs we currently have.